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Shailene Woodley Confirmed for 'Spider-Man' + May Get 'Divergent'

by Ethan Anderton
October 19, 2012
Source: Heat Vision

Sounds like it's a good month for Shailene Woodley. Last year the young actress made waves with a spectacular performance in The Descendants, but 2014 might bring her biggest career boost yet. Heat Vision has word that Woodley is now in talks to lead the recently announced adaptation of Veronica Roth's young adult novel Divergent, the first in a series. In addition, following last week's report that that actress was the top choice to play Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it sounds like a deal has been struck between Columbia Pictures and Woodley as she has been confirmed to take the iconic comic role.

First, let's talk about Divergent, and then after that, we'll get into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (if you want to remain spoiler free, you'll want to stop reading after the book synopsis below). Neil Burger is directing Divergent, but we're not sure who's scripting the film yet. Production is supposed to begin in March with an eye towards an early 2014 release, so we'll likely hear more about casting as the project develops. If this project takes off similar to The Hunger Games, Woodley will hopefully be able to leave behind her soap opera level series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" on ABC Family. She's just better than that. In the meantime, here's the official synopsis for Divergent:

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Now as for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, we've been wondering if the introduction of Peter Parker's iconic love interest Mary Jane Watson meant that the new film adaptation would stick to the comics and bring about the demise of Gwen Stacy. In the comics, the character brought to life properly for the first time by Emma Stone is killed when Spider-Man tries to save her from the Green Goblin and accidentally kills her in the process. As we've pointed out, it's a defining moment in the comic books. Well, Heat Vision says introducing Woodley as Mary Jane is indeed part of a multi-film plan to build to the Death of Gwen Stacy story in the third film. That's definitely something we're looking forward to seeing. How about you?

Filed under Casting, Movie News

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